Social Democrats promise no income tax rises for ordinary earners

The Social Democrats have promised that people with “normal incomes” will not pay more tax during the next parliamentary term, SVT reports. Party leader Magdalena Andersson said no one earning less than 70,000 kronor a month would face a higher income tax.

The party is campaigning on shorter healthcare queues, increased child benefits and smaller school classes. Andersson said these measures would not be financed through higher taxes on people earning below 70,000 kronor per month.

Under the proposal, a person earning 70,000 kronor a month would pay around 100 kronor more in tax. The tax would then increase progressively for higher earners.

“If you have a very high income, it could be more,” Andersson said, pointing to high-income earners who she said had received substantial tax cuts under the policies of the governing parties that support the Tidö agreement.

Andersson also said that no one would pay more tax than they did four years ago.

Asked how the party could promise major investments in public services without raising taxes for broad sections of society, Andersson said ordinary people needed more money after difficult years in which Swedish wages had fallen behind those in the rest of Europe.

She also said the Social Democrats wanted to pursue economic policies aimed at growth and real wage increases.

Temporary tax cuts

Earlier this year, the government and the Sweden Democrats halved the food VAT rate and cut fuel taxes. Both reductions are temporary.

Asked whether the Social Democrats would raise those taxes again, Andersson said all parties had described the measures as temporary. The final decision, she said, would depend on economic developments when the end date approached.